Students spend between six and nine hours per week outside of class in activities such as learning vocabulary, reading, completing written exercises, working on pronunciation, preparing oral presentations, and working with the multimedia files that accompany the text. Text may change yearly.

VI. Catalog Course Description

This continuation of the work from the Intermediate sequence focuses on discussion of selected cultural readings, periodical articles, etc., to instill a greater mastery of spoken and written Spanish. This course also addresses advanced language skills and a deeper understanding of the Spanish speaking countries.

VII. Required Course Content and Direction

Learning Goals:

Course

Students will:

acquire and demonstrate increasing competence in the four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing;

recognize and respond appropriately and with increasing detail to the most common spoken situations;

demonstrate ability to write increasingly complex sentences in Spanish; and

explain an increasing number of aspects of life in the Spanish-speaking countries.

articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities:

Grammatical topics

Uses of “ser” and “estar”
Adverbs
Comparisons of equality
Comparisons of inequality
The superlative
Nominalization
The preterit
The imperfect
“Hace” with time expressions
Verbs with different English equivalents in the preterit and the imperfect
The present perfect
Past participles used as adjectives
“Se” + verb for impersonal and passive expressions
Indirect object nouns and pronouns
“Gustar” and similar verbs
The infinitive
Direct object nouns and pronouns
The present subjunctive: wishes, hope, emotions, advice
Equivalents of to become

Vocabulary and social contexts

More nouns and verbs used to talk about sports and leisure activities of today
Nouns and verbs relating to regional festivities
Nouns and verbs relating to personal changes and cultural trends

Cultural contexts

Identifying characteristics and facts about Hispanic communities
Spanglish as a cultural and linguistic phenomenon
The Spanish-speaking community in the United States

Assessment Methods for Core Learning Goals:

Course

Students

take quizzes and tests;

complete assignments, such as short compositions and grammatical exercises;

Cultural Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests which examine the cultural topics presented in the course and in which they compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices of some Spanish-speaking people.

International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests in which they articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Students:

Students use text, workbook, and multimedia resources of second-year proficiency-based Spanish program. See course format.

VIII. Teaching Methods Employed

Section VIII is not being used in new and revised syllabi as of 12/10/08.